


A short walk in a beautiful country

by BalletCoppelia



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, I love these three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BalletCoppelia/pseuds/BalletCoppelia
Summary: Here’s a fic I wrote for a Secret Santa, that has nothing to do with Christmas.Tilly and Kieran go out looking for some plants to use back at camp.
Relationships: Kieran Duffy & Charles Smith, Tilly Jackson & Charles Smith, Tilly Jackson & Kieran Duffy, Tilly Jackson/Arthur Morgan
Kudos: 7





	A short walk in a beautiful country

**Author's Note:**

> Some background info that you might not already know, that are relevant to the fic. (And I only know these things because I’m obsessed with the little details of the game.)
> 
> One of Tilly’s chores at camp is making health cures, presumably to sell for money or to be used by the gang members. I figured she’d need materials for that every now and then, and since potent health cures need one each of yarrow and ginseng, I figure plain heath cures just use either yarrow or ginseng by themselves.
> 
> Kieran’s request is lowkey fascinating to me (mainly because I’m kinda obsessed with Kieran) because there is literally burdock basically in camp, but he asks Arthur to get him some instead. Maybe he doesn’t know what it looks like. 🤔 But I figure he’d want burdock root more then once, poultices are supposedly used kinda often for horses, if you are the kind of horse person that uses poultices. So he’ll eventually run out of the burdock Arthur gave him and want more.

Clemens Point was a hot, muggy camp, especially compared to the gang’s two most recent camps before it.

Colter was so cold and snowy that hardly anyone felt like doing anything, they all just wanted to hunker down and try to stay warm. At Horseshoe Overlook, the typical weather was such that if you were just sitting around you were chilly, but if you were to do a little physical work it was a pretty comfortable temperature. Clemens Point though, left one lethargic and miserable for most of the day, with motivation to do chores at an all time low. Things still needed to get done though, and Ms. Grimshaw kept people working.

Tilly was doing some of her chores when she noticed Kieran nervously lingering by the wagon every time he brought a food bag over to the provisions wagon, glancing over at her and looking away again. She continued mending the sock she was working on, carefully not looking at him. 

Finally after he moved his last bag he worked up the nerve to come over and talk to her. “Miss Jackson, are you busy?”

She set her mending aside. “I’ve got a minute to talk, Kieran, what do you need?”

He stayed standing, wringing his hands. “I wanted to ask... you go out and pick some plants once in a while right? For the health cures you make?” Without waiting for a response he kept going. “Could I come along next time you go? I need more Burdock Root for some poultices for the horses. Arthur showed me what it looks like the second time I asked him for some, so I’ve been getting it from the Burdock that’s growing near camp, but I need to go farther now and I’m not sure I’m allowed to go by myself-“

Tilly interrupted his rambling. “Kieran.” She waited for him to calm a bit before responding. “Yes, you can come. We could actually probably go pretty soon, we’re getting low on dried Yarrow, so I should get some more soon to set drying.” Tilly could see Kieran calming down more now that he’d said what he wanted and she’d been fine with it. “We’ll go tomorrow okay?”

Kieran nodded. “That sounds just fine, thank you.” He looked around a little nervously. “I should get back to work though.” Kieran’s status as the newest member of the gang combined with the fact that he used to be an O’Driscoll meant he had a large amount of chores, and he generally felt uncomfortable sitting around doing nothing.

“I’ll let Grimshaw know we’ll be going out early tomorrow, and that we’re getting things for the camp, not just personal plants.” Tilly reassured him, letting him know he wouldn’t have to work up the nerve to ask her himself.

Kieran nodded again, grateful, and hurried off to continue his chores, leaving Tilly to her mending.

xxx

The next morning Tilly and Kieran got ready to go at dawn, preferring to head out before it started to get really hot out. Kieran had been one of the first to get up like usual, doing various small chores until Tilly woke up. Kieran borrowed a satchel from her to carry the roots.

Tilly had spoken to Ms. Grimshaw yesterday and gained permission, but she was reluctant to send them alone, since it was only a few weeks ago that Arthur had been taken by the O’Driscolls and they were all still a little paranoid.

And so Charles was joining them while they gathered their plants.

They set out along the shore, walking next to the water looking for Burdock plants. The early morning sun was still low in the sky, casting long shadows towards them from the banks.

“You know, this area has been good for fishing.” Kieran said, breaking the silence, awkwardly continuing to look around for Burdock instead of at either of them for the conversation.

Tilly nodded. “I can tell, we’ve had some halfway decent fish stew since we got here.” She looked back at Charles who was walking just slightly behind her and Kieran. “Are you much of a fisherman Charles? I hear all about how good you are at hunting from Arthur, but no mention of your fishing prowess.”

Charles gave a small shrug. “I do alright. If I’m really trying to get a large amount of food for camp, I’m generally better with hunting, but I do enjoy fishing.”

Right at that moment Kieran visibly focused forward on something. “Hold up a second, I see some Burdock.” He scrambled up the bank to pick the plants down at their roots.

Tilly glanced over at Charles, before looking back at Kieran. “You should go fishing with Kieran sometime. I think he could use some company once in a while, and you might actually enjoy yourself.” Charles simply gave her a noncommittal noise, no real hint of which way he leant on the matter, so Tilly just waited with him in comfortable silence until Kieran came back, slightly dirtier from going up and down the bank.

“I’d like to keep going for more Burdock, if that’s okay with you. I want a good amount, with how hot it is down here it’s good to pull the heat from the horses legs pretty regularly, and Burdock poultices are great for that.” Kieran was still putting some of the freshly acquired root in his borrowed bag as he spoke.

Tilly saw Charles nod in her peripheral vision, and added her own agreement. “Fine by me, lead on.”

They kept walking farther up the shore, with the sun slowly climbing in the sky. Boats passed leisurely on their left, at one point one of the boaters shouted a hi to them and vigorously waved at them, startling Kieran. He reluctantly waved back as Tilly tried not to laugh and Charles didn’t even really try at all to hide his amused smile. Afterwards Kieran marched forward again as if to escape the embarrassing moment.

Pretty soon after, they came upon some more Burdock, all three of them going up a gentler slope of the bank to get to it. Kieran methodically collected the roots he needed and stored them before turning back to the other two. “That’s probably plenty for a while. Tilly, you were going to find some... Yarrow right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, Arthur just recently told me about some he saw growing near here not too long ago, if I remember right, it should be in a field to the east.”

Charles gestured east, to the right of the lake. “Lead the way then.”

They walked through a few trees, hardly more then a line of trees and bushes, breaking through to a moderately sized field of long grass, the green blades rippling in a gentle breeze. The sun was almost directly overhead in a cloudless sky, shining down on the field relentlessly, giving a slightly golden hue to the grass. A road ran parallel to the lake, with another road going east intersecting with it, a rider was traveling south at a gentle pace on the first road.

And finally, nearer to the road then to their little group, the distinctive red clusters of Yarrow flowers.

Crossing to get to the Yarrow, scaring some rabbits out of the field on their way, Tilly started picking her needed Yarrow, careful to get the stems along with the flowers. Tilly was vaguely aware of Charles and Kieran wandering around a bit while she worked.

By the time they had reached the Yarrow earlier the rider they’d seen was gone, out of sight down the road, now though she heard more riders on the road and curiously looked over, pausing in her herb collecting.

Two men were riding south down the road, both men dressed in shabby looking clothes, with parts of their outfits being from old confederate military uniforms, in particular their hats. One was wearing a yellow handkerchief around his neck, and the other had a rather large mustache.

Charles and Kieran had both noticed the men too, drawing nearer to her then they were before, especially Charles who was now positioned right between her and the road, subtly keeping an eye on the men without outright staring at them. The same subtlety couldn’t quite be said for Kieran.

The men got closer and noticed the group, slowing their horses gradually until finally they pulled to a stop on the road, right next to the group.

The man with the yellow handkerchief shouted to them. “Y’all ‘re in Lemoyne Raiders territory, what’chu doin’ here?” He and the other man were still on their horses, glaring down at them.

Charles had moved his hand down to his gun by now, but hadn’t come to drawing it just yet. “I don’t think that’s really any of your business, why don’t you move along and leave us alone.” He said coolly.

The handkerchief man exchanged a look with his friend and replied. “I don’t think I will, I’m not in the habit of taking orders from strangers, especially not ones like you.” With this he drew his revolver, the man with a mustache drawing his just a moment behind him. This of course prompted Charles to draw his sawed off shotgun, pointing it at them but not firing. Empowered by his gun, the handkerchief man again asked. “What are y’all doin’ here?”

The handkerchief man, who was clearly the leader of the two stared at Charles after his question, who stared right back. Tension built between them until-

They heard another hammer of a gun being cocked being Tilly and Charles.

Kieran had drawn his cattleman revolver and was currently pointing it at the mustached man, evening out the fight. “Like he said, it’s not your business.” His expression was fairly nervous, but his hand was fairly steadily aiming the gun.

“Be on your way if you value your lives.” Charles said confidently, staring at them both, his gun steadily pointing at the leader.

Most Lemoyne Raiders are cowards who don’t like fair fights, Charles knew this, and was counting on it to help them. The leader scoffed and nudged his horse to start moving, muttering something about how he wasn’t drunk enough for this.

Tilly, Charles, and Kieran watched them ride away, keeping a close eye on them until they were out of sight. Charles turned to Tilly then. “Are you almost done? If they come back later, I’d rather we not be here.”

“I’ve just got a few more to pick.” She got right back to it, picking the last few Yarrow flowers by their stems, and gathered them up with the others in her arms. As soon as she was done Charles got them started heading back to camp.

They decided to go back through the woods instead of following the shore again, Kieran and Charles walking behind her. They weren’t hurrying exactly, but they certainly weren’t dawdling either.

As they walked back towards camp through the trees, with sunlight shining in patches through the leaves, they began to calm down a bit from their encounter with the Raiders.

Tilly heard Charles start a conversation with, “Kieran, what time do you usually go fishing?” And she smiled. Overall, a successful outing from camp

Coda 1  
As the sun set on another hot Lemoyne day, Tilly prepared the Yarrow she picked earlier, collecting it into small bunches to set out drying tomorrow, tying together bundles in the dying light.

Tilly felt strong arms wrap around her waist from behind, Arthur hugging her gently, resting his head on her shoulder. “What’re you up to, my lady?” Arthur asked with his head turned towards her neck, the movement of lips as he talked grazing her skin, a feel of a smile on them.

Tilly reached up to stroke his hair as she responded. “Just finishing prepping this Yarrow for health cures. Charles, Kieran, and I went out today to look for some.” She turned around, causing Arthur to let go of his hold on her, his hands instead going to her hands, holding both of hers in his, his much larger hands radiating warmth. “That was part of the reason anyways. What about you? Where did you go this time?” Arthur had been away from camp for a few days, which was pretty common, but Tilly liked to hear what he’d been up to when he’d leave.

Arthur shrugged dismissively. “Nothing that exciting, went up into the mountains for some hunting, pretty much the usual. Except-“ Arthur let go of her hands to dig around in his satchel, pulling something out and holding it out towards her. “I found this. I remembered you said you lost yours.”

Tilly reached for it, whatever it was, and Arthur dropped a chain into her hand. Holding it up she could see it was a gold pendant necklace, not an exact copy of the necklace she lost, instead an improvement, this necklace matching her favorite hair clip. “Oh Arthur, it’s beautiful, thank you.” Tilly gave Arthur a quick peck on the lips, an act which prompted a bit of heckling from Mary-Beth across camp, which she ignored.

One hand holding the necklace, Tilly reached behind her with the other to grab one of the bundles of yarrow that was prepared for drying, and dramatically presented it to Arthur. “And for you! Only the finest of yarrow flowers!” Arthur laughed with her as he took them, pulling her into another embrace before drawing back slightly and kissing her tenderly. 

Coda 2  
In the predawn hours the next day, before a proper sunrise, the sky was gradually lightening, though it had no real color to it yet. Fog lay heavy on the countryside, rolling outward from the lake. On the lake itself faint lights could be seen from the shore, lantern light on boats dispersed and gentled by the fog.

Perched on a bank on the bay next to camp, Kieran and Charles sat next to each other, fishing.

Not much discussion was exchanged between them, just the two of them sitting and enjoying the calm morning.

Gradually the sky lightened more, color appearing in the sky as the sun started rising above the trees, burning off the fog on the lake. Fog still remained in the shade of the woods, drifting out to the shore, tendrils of it weaving through the rocks to end up vanishing in the sun.

The whole bay was at a halfway point between fog and being sunny giving the air a golden glow, and in that moment, life was good.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this one day, because I procrastinated basically until the deadline, so it’s not exactly the most groundbreaking of fic, but I did some editing at least, so it’s not half bad.
> 
> And if you’re here for Tilly/Arthur content, I’m sorry to say there probably won’t be more of it here, I don’t ship it, nothing against those who do of course (I wrote a fic for one after all) but it’s just not my thing.


End file.
